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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
HEMBREE: Spoiled In Martinsville
The rear deck of NASCAR Sprint Series cars will look different at Martinsville...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted March 26, 2010   Martinsville, VA
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and fans welcome the rear deck spoiler back NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Pain Relief at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
The “new” new Sprint Cup race car is here. It has the metal rear-deck spoiler fans apparently have been yearning for with more passion than most teen-agers yearned for their first kiss.

The Car of Tomorrow’s rear-deck wing seemingly was the most-hated thing in NASCAR since rain on race day. Everywhere you turned, fans spat upon it. Drivers criticized it. Tony Stewart, while taking a break from his rigorous role as a journalism professor, called the car a “flying brick.”

In some circles, this was a tad confusing.

One of the most beautiful – if short-lived – race cars in NASCAR history was the winged Plymouth Superbird/Dodge Daytona, a car that rolled through the high banks of Talladega in 1970 with grace and power. True, its “wing” was quite a bit more regal than the squat unit that was pasted onto the Car of Tomorrow, but it took the concept of winged racers to a dramatic and dynamic new level. A nice Superbird can fetch more than $200,000 these days.

Perhaps inspired by that design, owners of passenger cars not really designed to carry wings have been known to slap the decidedly aftermarket pieces on cars of virtually every design and description.

It’s entirely possible to see Honda Civics, Volkswagen bugs and Toyota Camrys rolling down the interstate with affectionately attached “wings” riding on their rears. There is little aerodynamic advantage, it would seem, but the drivers appear to be particularly proud of them (when they aren’t talking on their cell phones).

Why, then, the hatred for the NASCAR Sprint Cup wing? Prejudice? Insensitivity? Failure to understand and/or accept a new art form?

Maybe it’s just because it looked so dang dorky. Kinda like something the Class Goober might have tacked onto his mom’s station wagon back in high school in an unfortunate attempt to be cool.

For many observers, the much more repulsive piece of NASCAR’s “new” car is the front-end splitter, that device that suddenly transforms into a plow when cars spin off into the infield grass. It makes the cars look like ferocious alien mechanical monsters searching for a landfill to drop themselves into.

But the wing – it got the hate.

The sendoff for the hated extension occurred last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. The funeral was poorly attended, at least by Bristol standards. Crowds of 160,000 typically attend BMS races; Sunday’s was dramatically smaller, which was surprising since there apparently have been so many people wanting to see the wing suffer a final indignity.

Sunday’s race at Martinsville is not a sellout, although a good crowd is expected. If complaints about the wing and love for the spoiler are as widespread as the noise would indicate, Clay Campbell’s grandstands should be overflowing Sunday. Everyone should be tossing confetti (along with massive amounts of adult beverages). There perhaps should be a parade. Maybe even barbecued Buffalo wings. Or oversized Martinsville hot dogs.

Now that everyone’s spoiled, it’s time to celebrate.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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